Without Time, Within Space
by Emerald Flame
Summary: This is a story I was co-writing with Kierseth. About twins with strange powers, and the enemies they face. I'm bad at summaries. Kierseth has the full 10chapter story on her account. Go there.
1. Default Chapter

Without Time, Within space

  
  


By Kierseth and Emerald Flame.

  
  


Notice: We are posting the same story under similar titles. Any reviews for either of them will be shared with the other author. Thankies!

  
  


Disclaimer: We own Rena and Ria and various other characters. Anything you recognize from Mercedes Lackey's books, we DO NOT own. We don't own the Purple Cat either. That belongs to Shaelesand.  
  
Thoughts  
:Mindspeech:  
"Normal Speech"  
  
____________________

  
  


Chapter One  
The marketplace was packed. Not unusual for late afternoon during Harvest. People were swarming like bees in a hive.  
  
Prime pickings, the girl thought as she sauntered through the crowd. Dressed in a reasonably clean skirt and blouse, she looked like any other farmer's daughter out for a visit to the market. Her copper hair was neatly brushed, pulled back and tied with a piece of twine. She examined the crowd. There were farmer's wives at the tanner's cart and highborn ladies at the Weaver Guild's cart. Drunken men staggered through the crowd and into the doors of the many taverns lining the marketplace. The only Guard she saw was near the other end of the square.  
  
Let's see...she thought, eeling her way near the more expensive items for sale. Lowborn, not worth it. Young highborn man, no, he looks fast. THERE!! a drunken old fop! And in expensive garb. Perfect!! She slunk her way near the older man and bumping into him, she snatched his purse out of his pocket.  
  
"Excuse me," she said to him as she collected herself to walk on.  
  
"Thash all right, schweet cheeks." he slurred in her face. His hand reached out for her. "I don't mind a little bump onesh in a while." He leered at her. She pulled away and tossing her head, stalked off, indignant. The old man shrugged and walked toward a tavern door.  
  
She let out a sigh of relief as she saw him walk into the tavern. She ducked into an alleyway and counted her haul. Four gold pieces, a few silver and a handful of copper. Not bad for one snatch. Added to the rest of the day's total that would be enough for a few days worth of food. She worked her way back to her hideaway. In the poorest district of Haven were many ramshackle buildings just waiting for inhabitants, if you didn't mind the bugs, rats, and mice. She walked jauntily, keeping an eye out for anyone near her. She slipped into a narrow walkway between two buildings and climbed over a crumbling stone wall. She slipped into a dark doorway and crept up a flight of stairs. As she reached the top, an arm reached out of the shadows and grabbed her arm.  
  
She spun and brought up her hands. "Linx!" she exclaimed, hitting him lightly on the arm. "How many times do I have to tell you not too do that!! Sometimes I think I trained you too well." She shook her head.  
  
A boy of about twelve stepped out of the shadows. He grinned, his shock of dark hair shining in the ray of light coming in through a high window. "I got you that time, Ria." He grinned at her. "How much did you get?"Enough." she replied. She was never straight about her answers. "Have the other's come in yet?"Asper is still out but Wyn came in about half a candlemark ago. Rena was impressed with the haul she got." the boy replied.  
  
"How much did she get?" Ria was curious.  
  
"Enough." Linx answered. His eyes twinkled with mischief.  
  
Ria feigned a blow at him and continued up the stairs. Linx followed.  
  
  
Linx led the way into the attic, and her band of theives domain. She looked around in satisfaction at the neat and orderly beds and areas she and her sister had organized. The boys, Linx, Wyn, and Asper, had the half without the window, being boys they didn't need light, and the girls, Rena and herself, had the other end that had the window. Rena and Ria were twins and had trained the boys in the art of pickpocketing and stealth. They had a pretty good layout up here, and weren't starved. The money they brought in covered the food needs, plus more, and they had respectable clothing on top of their regular rags for if they wanted to go into the 'better' dressed areas. So they wouldn't stand out.   
  
Ria walked briskly, but silently, over to where her twin crouched and seemed to be counting coins.   
"Hey, Ria," The crouched girl said without looking.  
  
"Heyla," Ria responded back, "How's your haul?"   
  
"Good. Real good. You?"  
  
"Great. Got us enough for a few days--" Ria stopped at the strange expression that appeared on Rena's now upturned face. It was a smile. A triumphant smile, that her twin had seen only once before. "What--"  
  
"I got enough for a month." Rena grinned at her twin's impression of a fish. "There was this rich looking guy in the middle class area, who was explaining about this new leather to a friend of his. A leather that doesn't cut. He said he had had a purse made out of it." The corners of Ria's mouth turned upward. She knew where this was going. "Well, I couldn't resist. As soon as he started walking, I circled around him, and did the running technique. I started sprinting at him, angling toward an inn, and bumped into him. I cut the bottom of his purse and caught all the change in this other one." She held up a plain leather purse. "I slipped a stone in so he wouldn't notice. He would've, if I hadn't, because I got ten pieces. Ten GOLD pieces, several silver, and quite a few copper. Gold. Ten. No wonder he wanted special leather. Well, it didn't work, did it." She began giggling, "The leather just cut! There was no resistance! I almost burst out laughing." And Rena she burst out in sudden uncontrollable laughter, setting Ria and Linx off, too.  
  
When they finally stopped, Rena, still grinning, asked Ria how she did and how much she had gotten, with, of course, the given warning of no 'enough's.'  
  
"Okay," Ria replied easily, and at her twins want for details she continued, outlining her day and finishing off with the slurring man in the marketplace. "Well there was a drunk, and I did the usual; bump and snag. Got four gold, a few silver and a handful of coppers. All told I got off with enough for this week by myself. But no where near what you pulled off! A month's allowance from one dash-and-snatch. That's amazing Rena." She hugged her sister in a fit of happiness. She pulled back and frowned, deep in thought. "How did the bag cut, though? Did you sharpen your dagger this morning? Normally it'll catch a little bit on plain leather, and he said his was cut-proof. Hm...."   
  
Ria sat for a moment, then shrugged. "Let's go celebrate! Dinner at the Purple Cat anyone?

  
  


_____________________

  
  


Chapter one is done! Yay for us! See that little button down below? It wants to be pushed. It /needs/ to be pushed. So do it a favor and push it. Then type some words. Maybe things related to this story? Please? Pretty Please? 

Every one who reviews gets a big serving of Whoo! with a side order of Hoo!! and a shiny spork! Review!!!

PLEASE REVIEW!!!!! 

  
  


*note button below*  



	2. Chapter Two

In Time and Space  
  
By Kierseth and Emerald Flame.  
  
Notice: We are posting the same story under similar titles. Any reviews for either of them will be shared with the other author. Thankies!  
  
Disclaimer: We own Rena and Ria and various other characters. Anything you recognize from Mercedes Lackey's books, we DO NOT own.  
  
Thanks to all our reviewers. Sorry for the delay on this chapter. Enjoy!  
  
  
  
Thoughts  
:Mindspeech:  
"Normal Speech"  
  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Chapter Two  
  
Rena stopped just around the corner of the building and tweaked her hood farther over her head. The thin light of the moon barely peeked through the clouds, but that was enough to cast a glow on her hair.  
  
Why couldn't I have been born with dark hair? she moaned in her thoughts, tugging at the dark hood once again. Her bright copper hair didn't make for a life of subterfuge. It caught all light and reflected it to great effect. Fine in a courtesan, but not for a thief.  
  
She listened intently to the silence inside the building and crept to the door. She tried the handle: locked. She pulled out her small kit of picks and managed the lock in a few breaths. She slid an oiled rag over the hinges a few times to make for a silent entry. Easing the door open as little as possible, she entered the common room and closed the door. She paused for a moment and looked to the right, at the bedroom door. She sharpened her ears, trying to descern any noise. The only thing that came was the snores of a resting man. She relaxed a bit.  
  
Asper had told her about this particular residence earlier that night. Asper had followed the man who lived here home. The gentleman had sold a rather large bundle of fine wolf pelts and had jingled off with a descent sized bag of coin. Asper had followed him to this building and had watched him through the window before heading home; He was more the tracker type than the snatch-and-run type. At fourteen, he stood head and shoulders above Rena and was solidly built. He was strong as an ox, but not very fast. So he left most of the big runs to the girls. Ria had had a big day, with a near miss that had her spooked, so tonight fell on Rena.  
  
She waited until her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, then tiptoed over to the kitchen corner of the common room. Asper had seen the man fiddling with a small box and told her the whereabouts of it. She reached into the upper right-hand cupboard and feeling around, plucked the box from it's resting place.   
  
Gotcha!  
  
She set it down on the table and inspected the box with her fingers. It was small, a palm's length wide and long and a finger's height. She tried lifting the lid.  
  
Nothing. It was locked. She felt at the lock with her fingers, straining to see in the dim light from the dirty window. It was sophisticated, much to complex for her little picks.   
  
Damn! Now what? she stood still for a minute, racking her brain for ideas. She rubbed her eyes with her fingers and stared at the box. Open! she implored with her thoughts. Nothing. She sighed quietly and dropped her hand to the lid. Her fingers met the wood and she felt it give. She pressed harder at the lid and felt it give more.   
  
What is this? Is the wood rotting? She pressed with all her strength and felt her fingers slide slowly through the wood. It was if the lid had turned to dense clay. There were no hard edges that she could feel, no splinter entered her hand, no sharp spurs of wood to scratch her skin. It took some effort, but her fingers finally broke through into the box. She grabbed one side of the break in the wood with one hand and the other with the other hand and pulled. The gap opened wider, until she could slip her hand into the box. She pulled out a heavy leather purse. It clanked softly as she lifted it, so she swaddled it in a cloth and tucked it into her pocket. Then she turned her attention back to the box.   
  
It looked like someone had turned the lid of the wood to putty. The edges were mounded up: not ragged or square like wood does when it's cut or broken. She put out a finger and pushed at the rounded edge. It gave. She set her hands to the edges of the break and tried to smooth the wood out, as if she were trying to shape clay. It yielded and moved back to cover the gap. She slid her hand along the now-closed lid of the box and felt the bumps smooth out. She peered at it closely in the light from the moon. It looked normal, as if nothing had happened to the lid.   
  
I don't know what's going on here, but thank you! she sent to whatever benevolent being was watching her. She set the box back where she found it, and left the house.   
  
-----  
  
"I pressed down on the wood and it gave!" Rena was back home, Asper, Wyn, Linx and most importantly, Ria were all up listening to her recount her latest swipe. It was a rare occurrence. Rena never talked about her escapades. She just did them and moved on.  
  
"I thought maybe the wood was rotting and I pushed harder. It didn't feel like rotten wood. It was more like clay, or stiff mud. I managed to get the purse out of the box and the lid was still... pliable. I smoothed the wood back over the lid, Ria. I moulded wood like it was putty. That's not normal!" She looked a little confused and as Ria studied her sister, a little scared.   
  
"The wood was probably rotten, Rena. You probably just pushed the rotten bits back in place and it looked whole in the dim light." Ria, ever the practical one, tried to calm her sister. "No one can turn wood to clay." Ria rubbed her forehead with her hands, closing her burning eyes.  
  
"Ria! You aren't listening! The lid was whole. There were no gaps in the wood. I felt it." She leaned forward and pounded the floor with her right fist to make her point. But instead of the dull bang everyone expected, there came a muffled thunk. Rena looked down and gasped to see her fist firmly lodged in the wood of the floor. It was as if that area of floor had become viscous. The boys stared in disbelief.  
  
"Ria?!"   
  
"Wha-" Ria began, dropping her hands to her lap and opening her eyes. "What in the Star-eyed...?" She crawled the few feet to her sister and poked at the wood around Rena's hand. It was solid.   
  
"Can you move your hand?" She asked her sister.   
  
Rena nodded and slowly pulled her hand out of the floor. Her fist left an impression in the wood. She reached back out and poked hard at the indentation. Her finger sank into the floor.   
  
"Try to... close it. Like you did with the box." Ria suggested, poking at the indentation along with Rena. It felt solid to her touch and no amount of pushing would allow her finger to move though it.  
  
Rena set both hands on the floor beside the impression and pushed in and down at the same time. The wood slowly moved to cover the impression. When she straightened, it was if nothing had happened to the floor. It looked normal.   
  
"Well." Wyn said, a little stunned by what had happened. "That's new."   
  
Rena looked at him as if he had gone crazy. "I put my hand in the floor and all you say is 'That's new'?" She stared at the boy in wonder and slowly her face began to change. She bit her lip and started to shake. Ria looked at her in concern. When Rena caught a glimpse of Ria's face, she broke and burst out in hysterical laughter.   
  
One by one the rest joined in, laughing like they hadn't done in years. They all fell asleep on the floor, worn out by their laughter.  



	3. Chapter Three

In Time and Space  
  
By Kierseth and Emerald Flame.  
  
Notice: We are posting the same story under similar titles. Any reviews for either of them will be shared with the other author. Thankies!  
  
Disclaimer: We own Rena and Ria and various other characters. Anything you recognize from Mercedes Lackey's books, we DO NOT own.  
  
  
Thoughts  
:Mindspeech:  
"Normal Speech"  
  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Chapter Four  
  
"Rena!" Ria's golden voice rang through the ramshackle building as she pounded up the stairs. She appeared in the doorway of the main room, clothed in a descent gown of mint green. There was a large basket slung over her arm, food tumbling out as she slid to a stop.   
  
"Ria! What wrong?" Wyn asked as the boy picked up a wrapped loaf of bread from the floor.   
  
"Is Rena here? I REALLY need -- to talk to her. Has -- she come in yet?" Ria was out of breath. She had been running since she overheard the women at the Baker's Cart talking.   
  
"No. It's only midday. You know she doesn't come in until she has enough for the day." Wyn took the basket from her arm and walked over to the kitchen area. There he started to unpack the foodstuffs. Bread and rolls went into the cabinets wrapped as they were. The cold food went into a closed basket and lowered on a dumbwaiter into the cold basement. The apples went into a large bowl that Wyn set on the table for everyone to snack on.   
  
Wyn wasn't much of a thief, being slight of build and a little on the sickly side, but he managed to pull his weight enough. Rena had come upon him a 3 years before, begging in a dark alley. He had been 6 and the size of a four year old. Rena had taken pity on the boy and had taken him home, after talking to him about his family. His mother had taken ill and died a few weeks before. He had never known his father, nor any other relatives. In their care, he had grown and filled out some. He was still too small for his age, and a little weak, but he had carved a little place in their hearts, as all the boys had.   
  
"Gods forbid she ever comes home a little early." Ria muttered. "Do you know where she was working?"  
  
"I think she said she was going to work the areas around the Cinch and Stirrup. They are having a hinds and hounds tournament and there are bound to be some big winners. Rena was hoping to ease the winners of their heavy purses." Wyn wrinkled his nose in glee. He loved it when his rescuer was happy, and nothing made Rena happier than a good haul.   
  
"I'm gonna try to track her down. If she shows up, don't let her leave, ok? Tell her to stay here. Sit on her if you have to, don't let her leave. I have big news that she needs to hear." And with that, Ria left.  
  
  
----  
  
  
Weaving her way around the crowds at the door of the Cinch and Stirrup, Ria managed to slink into a corner and stood on an upturned box. This placed her head over the stooped backs of the men at the small tables, playing it out over hinds and hounds. She caught a glimpse of a familiar head and wedged her way through the masses to the darker corner. She came up behind her sister and hissed in her ear, grabbing her elbow.  
  
"Rena-"  
  
Rena's head whipped around to face her, hand to her dagger. She saw that the touch had come from her sister and managed to still her hand. Another second and she would have lost a finger... Rena thought as she glared at Ria.   
  
"What?" She hissed.  
  
"Come on, I got news." Ria whispered as she guided her out of the tavern.  
  
"Do you have enough for the day?" Ria asked her sister. "I got food for the week, and I have a few coins left over."   
  
"I should probably get another grab before the day is out..." Rena responded, squinting at the sun. "There are enough candlemarks left for another few tries. Why did you drag me out of there? The guy in the red scarf was winning. Both the hinds and hounds tourney, but a mead drinking contest he had gotten into earlier. Prime pickings, I say. Drunk, with a newly filled purse." She scowled at her twin. "What's your news?"  
  
They started to walk home. "It's worth it. I was in the market, buying bread, and I heard these two servants gossiping to the carter's wife. They were talking about their employer, a Noblewoman, rich and out of town for the week. She's in the country, visiting relatives." Ria's eyes sparkled in excitement.  
  
"So? Nobles visit the country all the time! What's so interesting about that?" Rena was getting impatient.  
  
"She had taken almost all of her servants with her. The house will only have a handful of people in it. It's near the statue of Windrider. Right next to the Stable of the Cart and Pony. Fenced close in." Rena was looking at her blankly. "Oh right. And her jewels are being gathered for a big sale. They are all being kept in a locked room. Lightly guarded, since lock is newly made, by that smith that everyone is talking about." Light was starting to dawn of Rena's face as she started to catch what her sister was trying to tell her.  
  
"All the jewels in one place? Lightly guarded, huh? And how are we supposed to get past that guard? We don't fight; we run." Rena's scowl deepened.   
  
"That is what we need the servant women for." Ria's exuberance was not diminished by her sister's dark mood. "One of them is scheduled for a tryst with said guard tonight. When Lady's away, the help will play! There will be no guard tonight! The lock is no problem with that little trick you do.   
  
Rena had worked on her "little trick" and had managed to "reach through" virtually any material she had laid her hands on. Metals were really hard to reach though, but with quite a bit of effort, she had managed to manipulate it. Ria had started in on her about going to the Palace to see if anyone could train her, but Rena had resisted. It wasn't dangerous to anyone, like Firestarting, and she wasn't going crazy, like people with untrained Mindspeech were said to do. So why tempt fate?  
  
"We can make a play tonight and no one will know anything is amiss until the Lady comes back! Nothing can go wrong!" Ria finished.   
  
Rena finally smiled. "It sounds good. Is it worth the risk?"  
  
"The servants were talking about her "lust for shiny baubles", as they called them. I think there will be plenty."  
  
Rena nodded in agreement. "Then we'd better get back home and get some sleep before dark. We don't want to be slow if things go amiss." With that said, they headed home.  



	4. Authors Note WITH URL TO OTHER VERSION

Okay, all, this is Liz, your author extrordinare. I REALLY don't have time to be writing this fic right now, you know, swamped with the work, so I've retreated to the position of...*drumroll*...Muse Extrordinare!!! lol   


So if you want to see the rest of this story completed, go to Tasha's version by copying and pasting the link below into your web browser and clicking go ! 

URL: the link is not showing up, go up to find and type in 'Kierseth'. Her story name is 'In time and space'. 

Thanks for being understanding on the homework load!

-Liz


End file.
